Connolly sees red as Crawley's unbeaten home run comes to an end

Mark Connolly was sent off as Crawley Town's as the Reds six-game uneaten home run came to an end against Wycombe Wanderers.
Karlan Ahearne-Grant scored his seventh goal in eight gamesKarlan Ahearne-Grant scored his seventh goal in eight games
Karlan Ahearne-Grant scored his seventh goal in eight games

Kewell's men lost 3-2 but put up a good fight against promotion-chasing Wycombe.

Kewell made just one change from the team who drew 2-2 at Carlisle United with Panutche Camara replacing Mark Randall.

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And it was Camara who had the first shot on goal within the first minute but his shot from Josh Payne's cross looped over the bar.

It was pretty even after that with Mark Connolly and Joe McNerney handling the threat of Adebayo Akinfenwa well. But a Connolly slip let in the dangerous Matt Bloomfield but he fired over the bar.

But Wycombe were slowly starting to dominate and on 25 minutes with a clever corner routine. Joe Jacobson picked out a run at the far post from Luke O'Nien and his low drive across goal was touched home by Nathan Tyson.

But the lead only lasted eight minutes as that man Karlan Ahearne-Grant scored his seventh goal in eight games. The Charlton loanee dispossessed Moore on the edge of the area and he drilled home.

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It was only all-square for five minutes as the visitors took the lead again to cap a crazy 15 minutes. Tyson turned provider this time, crossing to Akinfenwa at the far post who headed home.

Just before the break Payne was lucky to get away with a yellow card after a heavy challenge on O'Nien.

Crawley controlled the early stages of the second half with Ahearne-Grant and Evina linking well one th left but they struggled to find that final ball. Jimmy Smith found himself in the book after a deliberate handball when trying to get on the end of Lewis Young's superb cross.

But just when it looked like Crawley were most likely to score the next goal, the visitors struck to make it 3-1.

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It was another scrappy goal from Crawley's point of view. They failed to clear a ball in the box and Akinfenwa crossed and Sido Jombati was on hand to score.

Kewell introduced Jordan Roberts, replacing Payne, on 70 minutes.

Wycombe could have and should have extended their lead just after Roberts' introduction when Tyson was put clear but he pulled his shot wide.

Glenn Morris pulled off a tremendous save from O'Nien's 25-yard volley to keep Crawley in it but it was hard to see how Crawley were going to break down the Wycombe defence. But on 82 minutes they did.

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Roberts broke into the box on the left and his cross found Camara who smashed the ball home into the roof of the net.

Crawley's job got harder in the final minutes when they went down to 10 men after Connolly picked up two bookings in the space of a few minutes. And tat dismissal stifled Crawley's momentum.

Wycombe then saw out the last five additional minutes the claim all three points.

Crawley Town: Glenn Morris, Lewis Young, Josh Payne, Joe McNerney, Mark Connolly, Enzio Boldewijn, Jimmy Smith, Karlan Ahearne-Grant, Cedric Evina, Dannie Bulman, Panutche Camara. Subs: Yusuf Mersin, Jordan Roberts, Kaby Djalo, Aryan Tajbakhsh, Josh Lelan, Mark Randall, Moussa Sanoh

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Wycombe Wanderers: Scott Brown, Sido Jombati, Joe Jacobson, Dominic Gape, Adam El-Abd, Marcus Bean, Matt Bloomfield, Luke O'Nien, Tafari Moore, Adebayo Akinfenwa, Nathan Tyson. Subs: Scott Kashket, Paris Cowan-Hall, Nathan McGinley, Randell Williams, Craig Mackail-Smith, Curtis Thompson, Yves Ma-Kalambay

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